Game On
by theputz913
Summary: What happens when a certain homicide detective is missing her favorite writer and she is stuck at her desk and he is in a meeting? This will be a two-shot. Co-authored with Nikoli1(her first attempt at writing fanfic). We have rated this M for suggestive language and content. A/N: for an alternate beginning check out Nikoli1 profile. It should be up by the end of this week!
1. Chapter 1

They were so busy yesterday that it was well after midnight before they finished wrapping up their case. Since everyone left the building together, including Esposito and Ryan, Kate was forced to say see you tomorrow when she really wanted to tell Rick, meet me back at my place. After she got home, Rick called to inform her that he would not be meeting her at the precinct in the morning. He had gotten a call from Paula about a meeting at Black Pawn in the morning to discuss the possibility of a fifth Nikki Heat book . Martha and Alexis are coming home tomorrow night after their vacation in Europe. Martha had insisted she take Alexis there for one last hurrah before she left for her first semester at college. With Martha and Alexis back in town, Kate will have less alone time with Rick. Sure they will still see each other but not without having to plan things better. Kate won't be sleeping over at the loft anytime in the near future that's for sure. It will be difficult for Rick to stay over at Kate's too, if he is to continue to keep up appearances with his mother and daughter.

Kate sits down at her desk with her third cup of coffee. Today of all days is a slow day at the precinct and she has a mound of paperwork calling her name. Problem is she misses Castle. Sitting at her desk only makes it more so. She sits, staring over at his empty chair and pictures him playing the latest game on his phone trying so hard to look busy all the while sneaking subtle glances at her when he thinks no one is looking. It's all she can do not to reach out and touch him when he looks at her like that. Trying to keep things on the down low is proving to be a monumental undertaking. Those knowing looks from him that say "I've seen you naked" don't help matters. But who is she kidding. Ever since their first night together all she can think about is him and the sex is phenomenal.

She promised him last night on the phone that she would get out at a reasonable time since it was just a paperwork day, unless a body dropped. They want to take advantage of their last "excuse free" night and spend as much time alone together as possible. But looking at her watch, tells her if she doesn't get a move on, she won't be leaving work until much later than intended. She can't afford to spend another minute day dreaming. Empty chair or not, Rick infiltrates her mind and she has to push him out of it or she won't get anything done. Just at that moment, Kate's phone chirps. She glances down and sees it is a text from Castle.

RC: MISS ME YET

KB: YES, I DIDN'T GET MY COFFEE

RC: WOW, NICE

KB: KIDDING

RC: I'M BORED

KB: ALREADY

RC: MEETINGS

KB: PAPERWORK

RC: U BORED

KB: YEAH BEEN DAYDREAMIN

RC: BOUT ME

KB: NO

RC: NO? :(

KB: LAST WEEK :)

RC: WHICH PART

KB: YOU KNOW

RC: WHICH TIME ;)

KB: ALL OF THEM :)

RC: WANNA PLAY WWF

KB: WRESTLING, REALLY CASTLE

RC: LATER, WORDS WITH FRIENDS NOW

KB: SURE TTYL

RC: K DOWNLOAD APP

With a grin on her face, Kate downloads the app and turns back to her mound of paperwork. Not even five minutes into her task, her phone makes an unfamiliar sound. _What the hell is that?_ She's almost afraid to look. She looks at the phone and sees her new app has a one in a little red circle, now curious, she touches the app and sees that Castle has invited her to play a game. As her finger hovers over "accept" she studies her letter choices for the wide open board. She gets a wry smile and wonders just what she can get away with in this game to make it a little more "them". She's sure Rick would appreciate an innuendo or two if the chance presents itself. She actually blushes as she places her first word on the board, T-O-N-G-U-E. She gets 20 points and she's pleased with her first attempt at this game. As she tries to switch her focus back to the forms in front of her, her mind drifts to all of the ways she would like to be using her tongue on her missing partner. She shakes her head and decides that she needs to get something in her stomach besides coffee and gummy bears. Should she order in for her and the guys or just fly solo on this one? After giving it a moment's thought she decides to order them all a pizza so she can dive back into her mind numbing paperwork.

After calling Terrific Nick's, only because they are the quickest and she is starving since she didn't get her bear claw, she returns to her desk to see that Rick has "worded" her back. She coughs when she notices that he has played T-H-O-N-G. "Castle", she huffs and decides she needs to up the ante so she grins evilly and plays, N-O-N-E. _That should teach him._ She thinks as she signs her name at the bottom of the form she has spent far too much time filling out. When she looks up from her phone, Esposito and Ryan are standing in front of her with shit-eating grins on their faces. A moment of panic seizes her. _Why are they grinning? Did I say something out loud? Do they know what I have been thinking about all day? Did they figure out my secret? God, I hope not. I'm really enjoying this being just between Rick and I right now._

"Beckett!" They say in unison to jar her from her internal debate.

"What? Did a body drop? Did I miss something?" She asks trying to calm her racing her heart.

"Beckett, we asked if you wanted us to get you something to eat." Ryan says looking thoroughly confused by Kate's behavior.

"Uh, actually, I ordered us a pizza from Terrific Nick's about ten minutes ago," she says trying to sound nonchalant.

"Oh, thanks Beckett. We just figured we were on our own since your boy isn't here today to take care of lunch." Esposito says with a smirk.

"Castle is NOT my boy. It's not like we don't eat if he isn't here. We're adults...well, at least I am, and I can take care of the simple task of ordering lunch!" She grumbles, sounding far too defensive even to her own ears.

"Relax, Boss, we're just giving you a hard time." Espo says as he backs away from her desk.

"Yeah, Beckett, you seem distracted today, and Castle isn't even here to annoy you." Ryan says as he returns to his desk.

Just as she settles back in to the task at hand, her phone makes that funny little sound again, alerting her that Rick has played another word. She chuckles to herself when she sees that Rick has played, S-T-O-P. Obviously, her last word had hit its intended target. She's feeling a little smug when she notices that the text bubble in the upper right hand corner of her screen is different and she appears to have a message. Not knowing what to expect, she touches the icon to investigate.

The message reads, "Are you trying to kill me here?" Kate shakes her head at the thought. _Oh Castle_, she thinks to herself, _you have no idea_. So she types back a message into the bubble that reads, "What's wrong? Can't take the heat?" She looks down at her letters and quickly sees her next move. She takes her turn and spells B-O-O-B-S. Although, she sends that word meant to fluster him, it only brings back to mind of him lying on his couch with that TV reporter straddling him while pushing her boobs in his face. It's an image that has been difficult to remove from her mind to say the very least.

Meanwhile, at Black Pawn, Rick is sitting in the conference room with Paula across from him. Although they have their seats swiveled to face the front of the room, Rick can feel Paula's glare as his phone softly chirps alerting him that it's his turn to word. He opens the app and sees there is a message in the bubble icon in the upper right of his screen. He taps on it and reads Kate's reply. Oh, he can definitely take the heat. He looks down at the word that Kate has played and all the blood leaves his brain and surges south. Rick's mouth goes dry and he has to cross and uncross his legs just to keep himself from getting too excited at the mere image of a naked Kate. Paula impales him with a look of curiosity and asks, "everything okay over there Rick?" He stares back at her, swallows thickly and rasps out "I'm fine." Paula just glares back and raises her eyebrow disapprovingly. Rick smiles weakly at her until she gives up the staring contest and faces the presentation going on at the front of the room. He looks back down at the board and words back K-I-S-S, but not before he sends a message back in the bubble that says "I'm sorry."

Just as Kate is starting on her next form, her phone chirps. She looks up from her desk to see if anyone overheard her phone but the precinct has picked up in activity and everyone is either on their own phone at their desk or talking amongst themselves. She takes the opportunity to adjust the volume on her phone to vibrate. Heaven forbid anyone catch on that she is paying more attention to her phone right now then the paperwork at hand. She opens up the board and reads both his apology and next word. The joke's on her because as she looks down at the word K-I-S-S and sees it sits on top of the word B-O-O-B-S, her mind immediately takes her back to that first night with him. The imagery of him thoroughly kissing her as well as kissing her _there_ sends a pleasant shiver down her spine and through to her very core. She is not going to survive this game! As she takes a few cleansing breaths to ride through the sensation she sees her next move. She plays B-L-A-C-K and hits send.

Not even a minute after she plays her latest word Castle has already played his. A grin breaks across her face as she sees that he has used the L in B-L-A-C-K to make S-I-L-K. Kate so wants to be able to spell out the words "lace" or "undies" but she decides on a simple three letter word using the S in

S-T-O-P to create S-E-X. She also decides that it's time for a little message to be included with this word. She opens the text bubble and proceeds to tell him that her newest word is both a tease and a promise for later, if their work day ever ends.

Rick almost chokes when he sees Kate's newest word and excuses himself from the meeting to get a drink of water. He doesn't realize how much he needs that cold drink until he reads her message. "Rick, I promise to reward us both for our long, long day apart. My place at 6. Come hungry." After swiping his hand across his face, Rick decides to continue the tease by placing the word S-O-O-N by using the S in S-I-L-K. With a chuckle to himself as he is going back into the conference room he adds a question, "What should I be hungry for Kate?" He is shaken from his mischief by both Paula and Gina asking if he is okay, twice. "Uh, yeah, my throat was suddenly very dry and I needed a drink. I'm much better now," he says with a nod and smile. "Let's get this over with. I'm starving and I need to be somewhere by six."

Kate is finally making some progress on that mountain of paperwork now that she has inadvertently set a personal deadline to be home and ready for company at 6pm. She knows that she will need a few minutes to get things ready at home so decides she will leave the 12th by five. She is frantically filling out forms as the three o'clock hour draws near. She realizes that she has accomplished far more today once Rick has provided her with brief respites from the boredom of filling out forms. Her pile is dwindling and as much as she hates to admit it, Castle makes things so much better for her even when he isn't beside her. She is surprised about how much she depends on him and how unlike her it is to depend on anyone, especially a man. She has been on her own for so long that she didn't really understand what she was missing out on until her and Rick dove into this together.

A noise across the bullpen draws her attention away from her work. As she raises her head to see what has caught her attention, she sees Lanie has made an appearance and is apparently looking for her. "Girl, where have you been? I sent you a text before lunch!" Lanie says full of sass with a raised eyebrow.

"I've been sitting at this damn desk all day doing paperwork, why?" Kate asks totally oblivious to Lanie's curious glares.

"Maybe you should look at your phone and see what my text was about then." The tiny ME blurts, with hands on hips and a disgusted look on her face.

Kate discreetly exits the Words With Friends app and checks her text history and sees that her friend did indeed sent her a text before noon. "Oh, guess we can't do lunch now. Sorry Lanie." Kate says with a shrug.

"Well, we could have dinner and a girls night instead?" Lanie says, more a question than a statement.

"Sorry, Lanie, I already have plans tonight and I have to be out of here no later than five. I kind of... have a date." Kate mumbles trying not to draw more attention from the boys who have suddenly taken an interest in her and Lanie's conversation.

"Kate Beckett, you and I are going to have a very serious conversation really soon about this new man who has given you 'the glow'." Lanie says raising her voice to a level that causes Kate to cringe because there is no way the boys didn't hear what was said.

"Lanie, this is neither the time nor the place for this and I will tell you about him when I'm ready. It's all new and I want to see where it goes before I let anyone else in on it, okay?" She whispers to her friend who has now put her in a very awkward situation.

"I'm sorry, girlfriend, but you have never held out on me like this and I figured with Castle being out today, I could get some answers and not have to bring it up in front of him." The ME apologizes.

"Guess it doesn't matter now, because the whole bullpen just heard what you are implying. There is no way Castle isn't going to hear about this. You know how this place is, better than anyone Lanie, the rumors are going to fly and Castle is going to get those looks...the looks like the boys are giving me now. They look like someone just kicked their dog. If they look like that, Castle will be ten times worse! Thanks for making my private life public Lanie. I need to finish my paperwork and you need to go, now!" Kate growls turning back to her desk.

Lanie squints her eyes at Kate and replies, "Girl, I don't know what has crawled up your pants today, but this discussion is far from over." She surveys Kate's desk and resigns her fight when she sees the stack of paperwork Kate has strewn across her desk. "But seeing how tied up you are, I won't keep you from your work." And with that, Lanie turns on her heel to leave.

Kate bows her head and runs her hand across her forehead. Taking a deep breath she replies, "Lanie wait." The ME turns in Kate's direction and raises her eyebrow in question. "I am sorry I missed your text about lunch. I would very much like to get together soon and have some girl time. I have been busy and it would be nice to have a glass of wine with you and catch up. I promise we will get together as soon as I can catch a break."

Lanie softens her shoulders and replies, "sure Kate, whatever you say. A glass of wine with you sounds good." Lanie gives Kate a tight lipped grin, "see you around?"

Kate grins and replies, "yeah, see you soon." Lanie nods at Kate and heads toward the elevator. As she steps inside the awaiting car, Esposito gets in right behind her. With one look back at Kate, she rolls her eyes as the doors close. Kate chuckles to herself at the imagery of Lanie and Esposito in the elevator together. Just then, Kate's phone vibrates again, alerting her that Castle has played another word. Opening up the app she sees that he has played the word S-O-O-N. Going off the letter E in S-E-X, she plays the word A-C-H-E and hits send.

Castle leans back to stretch in his chair when his phone chirps. He sees Kate's play and grins. Of course she would play the word ache. It was all her idea to see just how many rounds they could go before having to go into work yesterday. It's not his fault, well, maybe just a little. He studies the board and going up from the N in S-O-O-N, he plays the letters W-O-N and hits send.

Kate, glances down at her watch and sees it is now three thirty. She stretches out her legs and her phone alerts her to another play from Rick. Grinning she sends him a message in the bubble, "not yet you haven't, wishful thinking on your part don't you think?" Seeing her next play she takes the A from A-C-H-E and plays A-L-W-A-Y-S.

Rick reads her message but his heart flutters in his chest at her use of their word A-L-W-A-Y-S. He reads her message and sends back, "touche detective", he takes the letter Y from the word A-L-W-A-Y-S and sends his next play her way.

Kate is surprised when her phone vibrates so soon after her last play. After all, it had only been five minutes ago. She opens up the board and sees his word, Y-O-U-R-S and shakes her head at his message. She surveys the board and decides to turn up the heat. Using the W from W-O-N she plays W-E-T. _There, take that_ she thinks to herself.

Rick glances down at his watch for the third time. It is going on four-thirty. He has to run home before going over to Kate's later. And with that his phone chirps. He looks down and swipes at the screen and sees the word Kate just played. Shit, she's done it again. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath and groans. That came out louder than intended. He immediately stands to leave and gathers his things when Paula looks over at him and glares.

"Going somewhere Rick?" she asks.

Rick stammers his reply, "uh, uh actually I am."

"Oh really? So soon, it's only four-thirty, our meeting isn't over until five. What has gotten into you? You have barely paid any attention today and have palmed that phone more times than I can count."

Rick runs a finger under his collar and replies, "well, if you must know, Alexis is coming home today and I have been talking to her as she makes her way from airport to airport."

Paula, looks him up one side and down, "is that so?"

Rick straightens his tie and grabs his jacket to hold in front of his pants. "Yes it is, and if you'll excuse me, I need to go."

"Alright leave if you must, I'll call you sometime tomorrow and we will review what you missed," she says.

"Fair enough, I'll talk to you tomorrow" he replies. And with that he turns to leave the conference room with his hand on the door.

Paula adds not so quietly, "oh and Rick, don't think I didn't notice what's up with you" and she waves her index finger back and forth at him in the direction of his pants. "Whoever she is, I hope she's worth it."

Rick now utterly mortified, nods his head briefly and closes the door. With his back against the door, he closes his eyes and takes a few moments. He pulls his phone out from his pocket and types a message into the bubble, "really Kate?" He takes the G from the word T-H-O-N-G and plays G-R-I-N-D and hits send.

Kate gets up from her desk and heads to the break room for her fourth cup of coffee. Glancing up at the clock she sees it is quarter of five. She is in the home stretch. Her phone vibrates in her pocket, causing her to nearly spill her coffee on her hand. She swipes at the screen and sees Rick's message and word. She types back, "oh you have no idea" and takes the G from the word T-O-N-G-U-E and plays downward G-R-O-A-N. She pockets her phone and heads back to her desk.


	2. Chapter 2

In the elevator on the way up to his loft, Rick's phone chirps in his pocket. He grabs the phone and looks at the board and he smiles at her message. Cause he actually does have an idea. He looks at his letters, and notices he is way behind in the points for the game, but is having so much fun. He could care less about the score. He looks at the board and takes the E from W-E-T and plays C-O-M-E. He shoves his phone back in his pocket and exits the elevator.

Kate sifts through her completed papers and picks them up to paperclip them together when her phone vibrates again. Grinning, she picks it up and opens the board. She nearly drops the phone right there. From the corner of her eye, she sees Gates stepping out of her office. She messages him, "don't you dare….not without me". Looking at the board, she sees her next move and typing quickly she words back D-O-N-E going down from the letter D in G-R-I-N-D. Just as she hits send, Gates clears her throat, "Detective Beckett"? Kate swipes her hand through her hair, looks up and replies, "yes sir?".

"Are you finished with the paperwork from yesterday's case?" she asks. Kate quickly picks up the paperwork off her desk and walks toward her and hands it over. Gates takes the paperwork from her, "well it's about damn time detective. It is five o'clock and time to wrap up don't you think?"

Kate couldn't agree more. "Yes sir, I was just about to leave myself." Kate responds. Gates nods at her and walks away.

Rick lays his jacket across his chair and starts to put his phone on his desk when it chirps again. He reads her message and grins, looks at his letters and plays the word N-E-V-E-R from the E in the word D-O-N-E. He messages Kate, "feel better now?" He hits send on his phone and starts undressing on his way to his bedroom.

Kate steps into her apartment and feels her phone vibrate again in her pocket. She looks down at the word and message. She rolls her eyes and replies, "not even close". Going off of the letter C from the word C-O-M-E, she plays the word C-U-F-F-S. She slips out of her shoes and strolls into her kitchen and grabs a bottle of wine. She pours herself a glass of Merlot and takes a long drink. She crosses through her living room to the windows and glances out. Normally, she finds the view relaxing but after playing that game with Castle she finds herself worked up something fierce. She quickly drains her glass of wine and heads to her bathroom to draw a bath. Maybe bubbles will do the trick she thinks to herself.

Rick steps out of the shower and towels off his hair. He slips into a pair of dark denim jeans. He crosses back to his study and grabs his phone. He picks it up and sees she has played the word C-U-F-F-S. And oh the image of it all. He checks the time and sees it is approaching six o'clock. He quickly sees his move and going off of the E in N-E-V-E-R, he plays Y-E-S. He finishes getting ready, grabs his keys and heads out the door.

Stepping out of the tub, Kate wraps her hair up in a towel, grabs her robe and walks into her bedroom. She checks her phone and grins at his response to her last wordplay. And oh the things she is going to do to him. One thing for certain, she will spare no mercy. Looking through her dresser, she pulls out a sexy pair of black lace underwear. She turns toward her closet and sees Rick's maroon dress shirt draped across the edge of the bed. She fingers the buttons and contemplates wearing it. She loves this shirt. She picks up the shirt and holds it to her nose. Oh it still smells like him. After a moment's hesitation, she pulls on the shirt and leaves the top three buttons undone. As she pulls her hair out of the collar, she hears someone knocking at her door.

"Castle," she says, as she reaches out and pulls him into her apartment. He grabs her hand as she pulls him through the door. He takes a step back with his foot and closes the door behind him. He roams his eyes over her taking in her polished toes, long slender legs, his shirt and her wet hair. His breath hitches in his chest when he reaches her face. He has seen that look on her face before. It is Kate in the purest of form. Her beautiful hazel eyes feral in both want and need. Her chest rising and falling on shallow breaths. And it sends him reeling back to the memory of her on his doorstep in soaking wet clothes. He reaches up and traces the outline of her face with his fingers. He touches the edges of her lip with the tip of his finger and she closes her eyes at the contact. Unable to hold back any longer, he bends down and places a gentle kiss to her neck and continues his onslaught of soft kisses peppering his way down her neck till he reaches the collar of her shirt. Dragging his hand down her neck, he thumbs the collar back and slips his hand inside and gently pushes the shirt off her shoulder all the while kissing his way across her collarbone. He continues to place soft kisses across her chest until he meets the edge of the scar that sits between her breasts. He traces the rough edge of her scar with his tongue and ghosts his lips across the soft swell of her breast and places a barely there kiss to the top of her breast which elicits a soft moan from her. Kate reaches down and pulls him back up to her. She looks down at his lips and touches her finger to his bottom lip before sealing them with her own. She traces the seam of his mouth with her tongue before gliding inside. She slides her hand through his hair until she reaches the back of his neck and holds him there. She deftly undoes the buttons of his shirt until she can slide her hand inside and place it on his chest. He shivers at the contact. He makes quick work of unbuttoning the remainder of her shirt and slides his hand across her abdomen and wraps his hand at her hip. He glides his hand down her thigh and gently raises it up and across his waist while slowly turning her body until she makes contact with the door. He crowds his body into her and pushes her body higher up the door. He leans down and places his palm on her other thigh and she takes the hint and pushes off the floor with her foot while he brings her leg to rest around his waist. She pushes up off the door and comes down to rest her weight fully on top of the bulge at the front of his pants. Leaning back against the door she drags her hand down between them until she meets the top of his pants. She trails her hand along the edge of his jeans and pops open the button. Rick groans at Kate's attempt at getting her hand inside his pants. Holding onto her, he pulls them away from the door and with as much grace as he can manage he slowly walks them toward her bedroom. Kate starts lightly biting at his neck when he runs into the back of the couch.

"Castle, stop", she says. He looks down at her with a questioning gaze. "Stop, couch, you, now", she pants. He lowers her down gently until her feet make contact with the ground and she can stand on her own. She puts her hand on his chest and pushes him to sit on the couch. He growls at that and grabs her hips and pulls her down with him. She raises herself up and straddles his waist while kissing him roughly, nipping at his lips with her teeth. He runs his hand down her side until he meets the elastic of her black lace underwear. He drags a finger down the front of her underwear hooking his finger in the top of her panties as he goes. He gently pulls the underwear down her legs as far as he can until she has to lean away and slide them off the rest of the way herself. He runs his hand along her inner thigh until his finger meets the soft wetness of her inner folds, eliciting a soft gasp from her. She runs her hand along the length of his fly and drags down the zipper. She reaches inside and frees him of his silk boxers. Rising back up onto her knees, she positions herself above him and slowly slides back down the length of him until they are joined together as one. She sets the pace by slowly rocking her hips down while he pushes up to meet her in a gentle rhythm. Kate leans back and grabs his hand. She places the palm of his hand against her chest and entwines their fingers together and holds him there. He can feel her heart beating against the palm of his hand. He looks up into her eyes and sees that she is close. She leans down and kisses him. He slides his tongue along the roof of her mouth and hears a hitch in her breathing. He feels her shiver before she shatters around him. He thrusts into her one last time and stills his movements before he joins her with a release of his own. She settles down against his chest and rests her head on his shoulder.

He reaches up and runs his fingers through her hair. "God, I missed you today Kate."

She lifts her head off his shoulder and peers into his clear blue eyes and smiles . "Yeah, me too," she replies.

"Kate, if I had known a little wordplay would get you that wound up, I would have asked you to play that game a long time ago." Rick says with a twinkle in his eye.

"Shut up and kiss me Rick." She whispers, pulling herself closer to his broad chest.

"You looked really good in my shirt by the way." He smirks with a wiggle of his brow.

"Well, maybe I should put it back on then," she teases.

"No, no you look much better out of it though!" He says grabbing her by her hips as she starts to rise from his lap. "Just... let's just stay right here a little longer." He adds as he brushes another kiss across her collarbone.

"I've been thinking about being this close to you all day and there is no way I'm going to move out of your arms anytime soon." She says as she snuggles further into his chest and grabs for the blanket on the back of the couch and drapes it around their sweat slicked bodies.

"You know, if your cold, I can think of a few ways to warm you up," he chuckles, voice full of mischief.

"Really, Rick? It hasn't even been fifteen minutes." She grins as she rolls her eyes at him.

"You're the one that said to come hungry...well, I'm hungry Kate." He shrugs.

"I was talking about dinner Castle!" She says, smacking his shoulder playfully.

"Fine, what's for dinner?" He pouts.

"I was thinking that we could order in and spend a quiet night together...no interruptions...just us." She says hesitantly.

"That sounds great but how can you be so sure that we can make it through the night without the boys or Lanie calling you about a body drop?" Rick questions her plan.

"I'm not on call tonight and I kind of told Lanie that I had a date and I'm pretty sure the boys were eavesdropping on our conversation." She says with a grin, knowing she lost him at the word 'date'.

"Is your date with that new guy your having sex with and has resulted in you having 'that glow' as Lanie put it?" He says, thoroughly enjoying himself.

"Yeah, do you know where I can find him? I should probably call him, I'm running a little late." She giggles at the banter that is so them.

"Funny, Kate... did you work on that one all day? How did your plans for the evening even come up?" He asks not sure he wants to know and feigning hurt at her comments.

"Lanie hunted me down at my desk when I didn't respond to her text about going to lunch with her. She wanted to have some girl time to interrogate me about this new guy I am apparently having sex with. She claimed she wanted to talk about it today since you wouldn't be in. I think she was trying to be considerate of your feelings and didn't want to make you uncomfortable by asking anymore questions about it in front of you. I think she is still rooting for me to come to my senses and give you a chance." Kate explains. "And since we missed lunch, she wanted to have a girls' night. So..."

"You had to tell her you had a date because you had already made some very wicked promises to someone else?" He questions. "By the way, you can make those kinds of promises to me anytime you want. I quite enjoy being on the receiving end of those kinds of promises from you. So much better than when you promised to shoot me for one reason or another." He adds as he shifts her off of his lap.

"What?...Where are you going?" She groans not at all happy to lose contact with his body.

"I was going to order dinner and put on some pants...for when the delivery guys shows up. I promise to let you take them off of me later." He chuckles as he pulls on his jeans and fishes his phone out of his back pocket. "You want Chinese, Italian or Thai?" He asks as he heads toward the kitchen to get them both something to drink.

"You choose, you know what I like from all of them anyway. I'm gonna go find a pair of yoga pants so I am presentable when the delivery guy shows up." She says as she makes her way to her bedroom after picking his shirt up off the floor where it landed over an hour ago.

"So how was your meeting with Paula and...Gina?" Kate asks, still struggling to mention Rick's ex wife slash publisher and not think of that summer.

"Boring...Paula kept giving me dirty looks because I was... a little distracted by a certain detective's suggestive comments. When she made a comment about unwavering attention to my phone, I tried to play it off like I was just touching base with Alexis as she made her way back from Europe. She wasn't buying it though, she told me, 'whoever she is, I hope she's worth it'. I really wanted to tell her, 'more than I could have ever imagined' but I just nodded and excused myself and ran home to take a shower so I didn't disappoint my secret girlfriend by being late. And Kate, you have nothing to worry about. I was in love with you that summer when I left with her and I'm even more in love with you now. Gina could never come close to what I feel for you." He says pulling her into side hug and giving her a brief kiss as the doorbell sounds.

Once their dinner arrives and is paid for, they settle themselves at the coffee table to eat. He decided on ordering Thai, because he knows it's her favorite. They eat their dinner in relative silence except for the occasional shuffling of utensils and take-out cartons. After storing the leftovers in her fridge they migrate back to the couch to settle in for the rest of the evening. Snuggling together as they debate how to spend the rest of their evening, Rick blurts out a statement that could totally derail the whole date night feel to the evening by taking them into uncharted waters.

"I could so get used to coming home to this every night." He breathes into her neck as his lips trace a line from her jaw to that little spot behind her ear that makes her utter the most delicious sounds he has ever heard. His goal of finding that spot behind her ear is halted when he hears a gasp come from the woman in his arms. "Kate, what's wrong? Are you okay?" He queries.

"Uh, yeah...no...you said home." She stumbles over the words.

"Huh, what are you talking about Kate?" He says as he leans back in to kiss her temple.

"You said you could get used to coming home to this every night." Her voice trailing off as she finishes her sentence.

"Yeah, I guess I did say that didn't I?" He says obviously not understanding her struggle with that particular sentence.

"But this isn't your home Castle." She says meeting the deep blue of his eyes.

"Kate, home is where the people I love are, so yes, this is my home because you are here." He whispers as he pulls her in for another kiss and this time he won't be deterred from his assault on her senses.

"Rick..." She starts but the words are swallowed by his lips. "I..." She tries again.

"Shh... Kate, can we just..." He pleads, looking into her sparkling green eyes but it's he who is interrupted this time.

"I'm glad your home Rick." She whispers into his neck.


End file.
